Exodus 7:16
Two men, one, a leader, whom God had called to speak,
and one, a ruler, called to listen, and to govern.
Let’s not forget the people of
who God calls to become freed slaves,
the Hebrew word, Avrim, slaves who become free
also means “cross-over people”
or “rootless cosmopolitites” –
people who live on the fringe.
Moses was the ultimate “cross-over- person”
born an Israelite, raised an Egyptian,
now pleading for the freedom of his people
to the man who was raised beside him, as his brother
Crossing-over is an interesting term.
We often think of crossing a line like a border, a street, or a bridge, something finite.
The Israelites are soon going to be crossing over the wilderness
and we all know how long that’s going to take.
We also cross over more intangible lines,
lines of social construct,
established by popularity, braininess, athletic ability,
skin color, religious affiliation, sexual orientation,
wealth, education, physical appearance…
just to name a few.
Crossing-over involves a journey,
no matter how short.
It’s always about moving away from one position
and arriving at another.
You finish the journey as a different person,
maybe as, “the girl I used to sit next to in trig” or,
the guy who was such a nerd, but after last summer, now he’s really hot;
Our verse today inspires us to another kind of crossing-over.
By not listening to the Israelites,
Pharaoh is refusing to cross-over,
he is either unable, or unwilling to put himself in the shoes
of the people who slave for him,
God gives pharaoh this unbelievable chance
to hear first hand, from the man who was raised as his brother
how horrible it is to feel the sting of the whip,
the parching heat of laboring in the sun,
and the pain of knowing your children’s fate
is the same as yours,
unless the Messiah comes to lead them
from slavery to freedom.
Pharaoh will refuse to become a cross-over person ten more times
despite some not-so-subtle persuasions before he finally allows the Israelites to go free, and even then, he never truly understands their lives,
and winds up losing his in his effort to bring them back to servitude.
There’s another interesting definition of that word, “Avrim”
I mentioned earlier.
It sometimes means, “People who live on the fringes”
Fringes are extremely important in Hebrew tradition.
Remember from the Gospel reading this morning
the woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for 12 years
she believes so strongly in Jesus’ power,
that she touches the fringe of his garment
the least bit of Jesus she might touch,
and because of her faith, she is healed.
The fringe!
The part of the garment that stops being the garment
and becomes something else.
Think about it.
Why do you think fringe exists?
Is it purely decorative?
Or does it blur the line between where something is
and isn’t.
In Biblical times, cities had walls.
It was easy to know where the boundaries started and stopped.
Today, if it wasn’t for the signs,
who would know where
and the tri-counties begin?
There is a vast fringe which surrounds our cities
neither urban or countryside,
but something in-between,
something fringy…
God is calling us
to make this journey, this pilgrimage,
to become cross-over people.
God calls us to listen to the stories of others,
Others like Baltasar Martin Garrote, from
who hopes his 86 year-old mother suffering from cancer,
can survive two more years until 2010,
the next time that
to visit his family.
Or the brave women and men serving in the US Coast Guard
who repeatedly rescue barely alive Haitians
from overcrowded boats
only to return them the next day
to the country they so desperately want to escape.
Perhaps you’ll have the opportunity to hear from Pearl Feinberg,
who with her husband Sol, retired to
to avoid the cold winters,
only to find now their pensions no longer cover their basics needs
of food, health care, and shelter.
In
from the members of
people whose sexual orientation got them rejected
if they were truthful about themselves
in any other church.
When you are hearing those stories,
remember this verse from today,
about the ruler who would not listen
and his brother who was compelled to speak out,
remember the people who cross-over,
consider your call to be one of them.
Think about being the fringe
and being part of the place where those who have,
and those who need
come together to share and to listen,
not just hearing one another,
but yearning to understand one another,
and feeling compelled to speak out on behalf of those who are chronically left behind.
Consider God’s ultimate act of crossing over,
of taking on our nature,
of experiencing our pain and suffering,
of conquering our fear of death
and our bondage to sin.
My prayer for all of us about to make this pilgrimage
is that we return from this trip, transformed
into people who have listened
transformed into people who cross-over,
transformed by the Holy Spirit into people who will speak out
against injustice,
and who will act to bring God’s kingdom
into the lives of all those we encounter here on earth.
Amen
